Notification No. 54/2015 [F.No. 203/23/2015-ITA.II]

Government of India

What this is

Notification No. 54/2015 [F.No. 203/23/2015-ITA.II] was published on 26 June 2015. Its subject is Government of India.

What it does

A notification in Form No. 3CP setting out the conditions subject to which the agricultural extension project titled 'Agriculture Extension Education Program-Total Agri Solution Provider' is notified. The approved entity must maintain separate books of account for the project notified under sub-section (1) of section 35CCC and have them audited by an accountant as defined in the Explanation below sub-section (2) of section 288, the audit report covering the true and fair view of those books, the genuineness of the activities and the fulfilment of the conditions in the Act, the rules and the notification under sub-rule (6) or sub-rule (8) of rule 6AAD. It may not accept any amount from beneficiaries for training, education, guidance or material, nor take any direct or indirect benefit from the project beyond the deduction itself, nor name any project, activity or scheme after the brand name of its products. Eligible expenditure is all expenses other than the cost of land or building, reduced by any amount received from beneficiaries, incurred wholly and exclusively for the project, with a proviso excluding expenditure that is reimbursed or reimbursable, and a bar on claiming the same expenditure under any other provision for the same or any other assessment year.

Who it reaches

The approved entity undertaking the agricultural extension project
Farmers benefiting from the project, who may not be charged for it
Accountants auditing the project's separate books of account
The jurisdictional Principal Commissioner or Commissioner and the Ministry of Agriculture

The provisions it speaks to

Left, the provision of the Income-tax Act, 1961 as the instrument itself names it. Right, the section of the Income-tax Act, 2025 that the department’s own concordance maps it to — which is where the same ground is now covered.

Under the 1961 Act	Now
s.35CCC	s.47
s.139	s.2, s.263, s.349
s.288	s.515

The instrument, as the Board published it

The department publishes this one only as a PDF, so the words below were read out of that PDF by machine. That reading can carry its own mistakes — a misread number, a broken line. Check the signed document before you rely on a figure in it. The reading also stopped short of the end of the document: what is below is the opening, not the whole of it.

Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
Notification
FORM NO. 3CP

10. Conditions subject to which agricultural extension project titled 'Agriculture Extension Education Program-Total Agri Solution Provider is being notified are as under:

i. The approved entity undertaking agricultural extension project shall maintain separate books of account of the agricultural extension project notified under sub-section (1) of section 35CCC, and get such books of account audited by an accountant as defined in the Explanation below sub-section (2) of section 288 of the Act. Further, the books of accounts pertaining to the said agricultural extension project shall be maintained in a manner as to enable verification of each extension activity carried out in the project.

ii. The audit report referred to in sub-rule (I) shall include the comments of auditors as to the true and fair view of the books of account maintained for agricultural extension project, the genuineness of the activities of the agricultural extension project and fulfillment of the conditions specified in the relevant provisions of the Act or the rules or the conditions mentioned in the notification issued under sub-rule (6) or sub-rule (8) of rule 6AAD.

iii. The approved entity shall not accept any amount from the beneficiaries under the eligible agricultural extension project for training, education, guidance or for any material so distributed for the said purposes.

iv. The approved entity shall not get any direct or indirect benefit from the notified agricultural extension project except the deduction of the eligible expenditure in accordance with the provisions of section 35CCC of the Act, rule 6AAD of the IT Rules, 1962 and this Notification. The approved entity shall also not name any of their agricultural extension project/activity/scheme on the brand name of any of their products.

v. The applicant shall furnish data sheet of farmers who have benefitted from the project to the Ministry of Agriculture. Further, the applicant shall also share the data pertaining to Soil health and also provide information regarding availability of additional capacity of Soil Testing laboratory available with Ministry of Agriculture.

vi. All expenses (not being expenditure in the nature of cost of any land or building), as reduced by the amount received from beneficiary, if any, incurred wholly and exclusively for undertaking an eligible agricultural extension project shall be eligible for deduction under section 35CCC:

Provided that any expenditure incurred on the agricultural extension project which is reimbursed or reimbursable to the assessee by any person, whether directly or indirectly, shall not be eligible for deduction under section 35CCC.

vii. Where a deduction under section 35CCC of the Act is claimed and allowed for any assessment year, deduction shall not be allowed in respect of such expenditure under any other provisions of the Act for the same or any other assessment year.

viii. The approved entity shall, on or before the due date of furnishing the return of income under sub-section (1) of section 139, furnish the following to the Jurisdictional PCIT/CIT/POIT/OIT, as the case may be, namely:-

a) the audited statement of accounts of the agricultural extension projects for the previous year along with the audit report and amount of deduction claimed under sub-section (1) of section 35CCC;

b) a note on the agricultural extension project undertaken by it during the previous year and the programme of agricultural extension project to be undertaken during the current year and the financial allocation for such programme; and

c) a certificate from the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, regarding the genuineness of the agricultural extension project undertaken by the assessee during the previous year.

ix. Under the project only product neutral training will be given except a short session on company's profile and products.

11. The Central Board of Direct Taxes shall withdraw the approval if the approved entity:-

a) has ceased its activities; or

b) its activities are not genuine; or

c) its activities are not being carried out in accordance with all or any of the relevant provisions of the Act or Rules; or

d) its activities are not being carried out in accordance with all or any of the conditions subject to which the notification is being issued.

Place: New-Delhi
Dated: 26/06/2015

(Rohit Garg)
Deputy Secretary to the Govt. of India
(F.No.103/13/2015-ITA.II)
Notification No. 54/2015

To,
The Manager,
Govt. of India Press,
Mayapuri, New Delhi

Copy forwarded to:

1. Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited, 4th Floor, A Wing Aditya Birla Centre, S.K. Marg, Worli Mumbai.

2. Ministry of Agriculture, Krishi Bhawan, New-Delhi

3. Pro-Commissioner of Income-tax concerned

4. The Department of Agriculture of the concerned State

5. The Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) of the concerned District(s)

6. Comptroller & Auditor General of India

7. Pr. CIT, Mumbai, with the request to inform the Board about compliance of condition at 10(viii) within 60 days from the due date of filing of return in case of the assessee

8. Concerned file

9. Ministry of Law & Justice (correction section), N.Delhi

10. % Pr. DGIT(Systems), N.Delhi for placing on the website: incometaxindia.gov.in

11. ITCC, CBDT (4 copies)

12. Guard File

(Rohit Garg)
Deputy Secretary to the Govt. of India

What it changes

The rule numbers are the 1962 Rules’ own, as the notification names them. The right-hand column is the department’s own mapping into the Income-tax Rules, 2026, which renumbered nearly everything.

Rule of the 1962 Rules	Now, in the 2026 Rules
Rule 6AAD	rule 37

Forms it touches. Form No. 3CP

What to watch

The approved entity must furnish, on or before the due date for the return under section 139(1), the audited statement of accounts with the audit report and the deduction claimed, a note on the project undertaken and proposed with the financial allocation, and a certificate from the Ministry of Agriculture as to the genuineness of the project.
Expenditure reimbursed or reimbursable to the assessee by any person, directly or indirectly, is not eligible for deduction under section 35CCC.
Only product neutral training may be given under the project, save for a short session on the company's profile and products.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes may withdraw the approval where the entity has ceased its activities, its activities are not genuine, or they are not carried out in accordance with the Act, the rules or the conditions of the notification.
The extract begins at condition 10 of Form No. 3CP, so the earlier items of the form, including the identification of the approved entity and the period of approval, are not in it, and it also stops part-way through the list of persons to whom copies are forwarded.

Where you meet it

In the deduction claimed under section 35CCC in the return of income of the approved entity, and in the annual filing of the audited accounts, project note and Ministry of Agriculture certificate with the jurisdictional Commissioner.

What it names

Forms it names. Form No. 3CP

Rules it names. Rule 6AAD of the Income-tax Rules, 1962. The 1962 Rules were replaced by the Income-tax Rules, 2026, which renumbered nearly everything: a rule number quoted here almost never means the same rule today.

On the same provision

Other instruments in this library that name the same provision of the 1961 Act. They are not necessarily still operative, and a later one may have replaced an earlier one without saying so.

Notification No. 47/2021 [F.No. 203/31/2014-ITA.II] / SO 1765(E) — Ministry of Finance 6 May 2021
Notification No. 48/2021 [F.No. 203/30/2014-ITA.II]/ SO 1766(E) — Ministry of Finance 6 May 2021
Notification No. 49/2021 [F. No. 203/29/2014-ITA.II]/ SO 1767(E) — Ministry of Finance 6 May 2021
Notification No. 14/2015 [F.No.203/31/2014/ITA.II] — Section 35CCC of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Expenditure on Agricultural Extension Project - Notified Eligible Agricultur 16 February 2015
Notification No. 15/2015 [F.No.203/30/2014/ITA.II] — Section 35CCC of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Expenditure on Agricultural Extension Project - Notified Eligible Agricultur 16 February 2015
Notification No. 16/2015 [F.No.203/29/2014/ITA.II] — Section 35CCC of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Expenditure on Agricultural Extension Project - Notified Eligible Agricultur 16 February 2015

← Notification No. 55/2015 [F.No. 203/22/2015-ITA.II] · Notification No. 52/2015 [F.No. 203/20/2015-ITA.II] →

What a notification is. A notification is made under a power the Act itself gives, and within that power it is law — unlike a circular, which only binds the department. Its reach is the reach of the enabling provision and no wider, and the date it carries decides from when it works.

Source: the Income Tax Department’s own published text — its page for this instrument.